Geology and Livelihoods # 11
After Australia its time to go to Nevada. In a really engaging talk on Planet Money Robert Smith and Zoe Chace take a look at life in Elko, Nevada which is going through boom times due to the high demand for gold.
The motels are full, the brothels are full and high school girls want to start a truck repair business to support the mining community. Archaeologists are being hired to survey for ancient American Indian settlements before the machines start ripping the earth open. The town is cash rich.
and yet no money is being spent on long terms investments for the town. A history of busts seen all around Elko in numerous ghost towns is preventing that.
There is an Australian general manager of a mine who keeps hopping from one gold mine to another all over the world. For him its always been boom time. That's the difference between being undereducated and having a good education. The undereducated may well profit for a short time in local booms but when the mines run out they won't find high paying jobs elsewhere. For the better educated ..there is more flexibility in finding work.
Listen
see more Geology and Livelihoods.
After Australia its time to go to Nevada. In a really engaging talk on Planet Money Robert Smith and Zoe Chace take a look at life in Elko, Nevada which is going through boom times due to the high demand for gold.
The motels are full, the brothels are full and high school girls want to start a truck repair business to support the mining community. Archaeologists are being hired to survey for ancient American Indian settlements before the machines start ripping the earth open. The town is cash rich.
and yet no money is being spent on long terms investments for the town. A history of busts seen all around Elko in numerous ghost towns is preventing that.
There is an Australian general manager of a mine who keeps hopping from one gold mine to another all over the world. For him its always been boom time. That's the difference between being undereducated and having a good education. The undereducated may well profit for a short time in local booms but when the mines run out they won't find high paying jobs elsewhere. For the better educated ..there is more flexibility in finding work.
Listen
see more Geology and Livelihoods.
Great little place to stop in and branch out and hike northern Nevada's Basin & Range and Owyhee.
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